IDEA-net’s capacity building journey across the Balkans

Within the span of one week between March and April 2025, the IDEA-net project visited the universities of Belgrade and Zadar to host capacity building on matters of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) in education. These workshops follow from the first workshop at the University of Ljubljana. We would like to thank our hosting universities for coordinating all necessary preparations as well as the Expertise Center for Diversity Policy and Erasmus University Rotterdam who delivered these workshops.

Our first workshop in Ljubljana

Hosted over two days at the end of the summer of 2024, teaching and administrative staff of the University of Ljubljana gathered at the Faculty of Arts to take part in the IDEA-net’s first capacity building pilot. Discussions tapped into the questions, experiences and expertise of the university faculty staff on: 

  • The differential qualities of safe, brave and accountable spaces.
  • The intersectional and contextual dimensions of diversity.
  • How issues regarding diversity, inclusion, exclusion are resonated with, and how these manifest contextually.
  • The workings of exclusion mechanism, such as micro-aggressions, and possible interventions.
  • Actions for a safe and inclusive campus culture at the University of Ljubljana.

Our second workshop in Belgrade

Led together with the Faculty of Philosophy, participants of the capacity building shared their experience and vision for IDEA concepts, frameworks, policy, practice, networks and community.

The University of Belgrade’s decentralised model of governance set the context for identifying methods to strengthen cooperation and communication between cross-faculty bodies, professors and students to enhance IDEA.

The faculty’s Committee for Student Issues, administration, legal office, students organisation and the vice-deans were in attendance. 

Our final workshop in Zadar

At the University of Zadar, participants from the academic departments and Student Counselling Service had the opportunity to become acquainted with current concepts and practices related to ensuring inclusion at higher education institutions, as well as to exchange their own experiences of working with students.

The two-day workshop addressed:

  • What are the possible frameworks for ensuring the inclusion of students, as well as staff members, from vulnerable groups?
  • What does it mean to foster a culture of belonging within the context of a higher education organization?
  • Who are the specific vulnerable student groups at the University of Zadar, and how should they be approached?
  • What is the significance of inclusive curricula and pedagogies for teaching practices, and what is their role in supporting students?

In addition to detecting the University’s strengths and spaces for IDEA improvement, participants underlined the importance of Student Counselling Service in providing pyschosocial support to vulnerable students. They also agreed on improving the inclusion of students who work as well as extending IDEA principles to University staff.

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Nine steps for setting up an IDEA office

The Guideline Toolkit for setting up an IDEA office is designed to be a supporting framework, which post-secondary institutions may also apply to evaluate and improve on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access activities. University College Dublin (UCD) and the University of Zadar have been the primary leads developing this report, together with the IDEA-net project partnership. The guideline is the product of an extensive desk review and multiple workshops and sessions with IDEA practioners to test its usefulness across borders and cultures. It is neither prescriptive nor exclusionary. Local expertise will be vital in ensuring that the Guideline Toolkit can be adapted as appropriate.

The nine steps

    1. Identify need and underrepresented groups.
    2. Identify inclusion activities over the student life and employee cycle.
    3. Establish principles.
    4. Identify governance structures/prerequisites to enable success.
    5. Identify stakeholders.
    6. Source funding and resources.
    7. Identify an optimal IDEA structure.
    8. Develop a system for measuring impact.
    9. Engage students and staff as partners.

Providing clarity of purpose from the outset is a core message to develop an understanding of when, where, and how interventions and activities can be most appropriately made. The steps outline an ambitious plan for post-secondary institutions to celebrate change and diversity. Recommendations are specifically attentive to IDEA-conducive activities as well as intra- and inter-institutional cooperation while generic enough to be beneficial in meeting different benchmarking systems, where based on principles of equity or equality.

Challenges and possible solutions

Feedback gathered in the development of the guideline highlighted the need to address conservative opposition. The importance of working with each other has been stressed, with concrete actions suggested in the guideline to avoid polarisation and “taking sides”.

Fear of saying the wrong thing often fuels resistance to IDEA. By following the nine steps above, education institutions would be taking a crucial step towards agreement on what is and is not within the remit of the IDEA office with all relevant collaborators.

Suggestions for securing institutional management buy-in are included. Where the opening an IDEA office is not possible in the short-term, starting small – from wherever it is possible to start – is beneficial towards a “plus one” approach. This attitude ensures appreciation and the opportunity for small changes to make a significant impact.

Download the guideline toolkit
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